The storm had passed by dawn, leaving the world washed in pale silver light.
Adrian stood by the outpost's gate, gear strapped, eyes fixed on the horizon where the city shimmered through the mist. Behind him, Selene and Elena emerged from the bunker, their faces set with grim resolve.
Mason's voice crackled over the comms.
"The entrance to the lower tunnels is buried under Sector 9. I've rerouted surveillance for a three-minute window. After that, you're ghosts on your own."
Adrian nodded. "Copy that."
They moved fast, cutting through the outskirts of the city until they reached the ruins of the old transit system. Steel girders jutted from the earth like broken ribs; the streets above hummed faintly with drones sweeping the skyline.
Elena crouched beside a rusted hatch. "Here. Mason's coordinates match."
Selene tapped the lock panel, an old biometric system, now corroded. She placed her palm against it, muttered, "Still remembers me," and the hatch groaned open, releasing a breath of stale, cold air.
They dropped into the dark.
The tunnels were a maze of dripping pipes and tangled wires. Blue emergency lights flickered intermittently, revealing faded syndicate insignias on the walls.
Elena whispered, "How deep does this go?"
Selene's answer was quiet but heavy. "All the way to the heart."
They moved in silence, footsteps echoing. Then the faint hum of machines grew louder, deep, rhythmic, almost alive. Ahead, the corridor opened into a massive underground chamber.
In the center, a tower of glass and steel pulsed with light. Cables ran from it like veins, burrowing into the earth. Screens around the perimeter displayed shifting lines of code, faces appearing and vanishing, identities rewritten in real time.
Adrian's voice dropped to a murmur. "They've already started."
Selene's jaw tightened. "We still have time to kill it."
She stepped forward, pulling a compact device from her belt, a disruptor core. "I can shut down their access, but I'll need two minutes undisturbed."
Elena took position near the western platform, scanning the shadows. "You'll have it."
But the air suddenly trembled. From the far side of the chamber, armored sentinels emerged, sleek, humanoid, eyes glowing red through their visors.
"Too late," Adrian hissed. "They know we're here."
Gunfire erupted, bright, staccato flashes slicing through the gloom. Adrian and Elena moved as one, covering Selene while she worked. Sparks danced from ricocheting rounds; the hum of the tower grew more frantic, as though aware it was under siege.
Selene's fingers flew across the console. "Almost...got...it..."
A blast shook the floor. One of the sentinels broke through, charging straight for her. Adrian dove, slamming into it mid-sprint, both crashing into a pile of shattered screens.
Elena's pulse pounded. She swung her rifle up, took aim, and fired clean through the machine's chest. It fell in a cascade of sparks.
Selene hit the final key. "Done!"
The lights in the tower flickered, once, twice, and then began to fade, like a dying heartbeat. The hum stuttered, then went silent.
For a moment, all that remained was their breathing and the smell of smoke.
Adrian rose slowly, his arm bleeding again. "Tell me that worked."
Selene exhaled. "It worked. They can't erase anyone now."
Elena turned to him, smiling faintly despite everything. "Then we just made history."
He looked back at her, mud, blood, and exhaustion mixing into something almost luminous. "No," he said softly. "We just took it back."
(The Collapse).
The first rumble came like distant thunder.
Then the entire floor beneath them began to shake.
Selene's eyes snapped to the flickering tower. "They set a failsafe! The core's destabilizing, run!"
Adrian grabbed Elena's hand, dragging her toward the service tunnel as cracks tore through the concrete. The hum of the tower deepened into a roar, light bursting from every seam like veins of molten gold.
They sprinted through smoke and falling debris, their shadows chasing them along the walls. Sparks rained from exposed cables, and the air filled with the sound of grinding metal.
Elena stumbled on a loose beam, but Adrian caught her, pulling her upright without breaking stride. "Keep moving!"
Behind them, Selene fired at a collapsing girder, knocking it aside before it crushed the path ahead. "This way, north exit!" she shouted.
They burst through a maintenance corridor, the heat building like fire at their backs. The ground split open, and a geyser of steam erupted, throwing Adrian against the wall. Pain flared, but he pushed up again.
"Selene!" he shouted.
"I'm right here!" she yelled, emerging from the haze with blood streaking her temple.
They ran again, faster now, because there was no other choice.
When they reached the last turn, the tunnel ahead was blocked by twisted rebar and concrete. Elena's breath hitched. "We're trapped."
Adrian's gaze swept the wreckage. "No. There's always a way."
Selene pulled a detonator from her belt. "Stand back."
She planted two charges along the wall, sparks flickering. "This'll blow us a door."
The timer beeped down, three… two… one...
Boom!!!!! The explosion ripped the air apart, the shockwave throwing them all forward into the open. They hit the ground hard, the night sky above them a swirl of dust and fire.
For a long moment, no one spoke. Just the echo of destruction behind them, the tunnel caving in, the old world burying itself.
Selene coughed, pushing herself up. "That… could've gone worse."
Elena laughed weakly. "You call that worse?"
Adrian stood, breathing hard, scanning the skyline. "We need to move before they send drones. Mason's safe house is five clicks east."
Selene turned toward him, eyes catching the faint light. "You're bleeding again."
He brushed it off. "I'll live."
She almost smiled. "I've heard that before."
Elena stepped closer, her voice softer. "Then let's make sure you do."
They started walking through the ruins together, the burning tunnels behind them painting the sky in orange and gold. The air was sharp and electric, alive with what they'd just survived.
And though they didn't say it out loud, each of them knew: this wasn't the end.
It was only the part where they finally stopped running, and started fighting back.